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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1981)
r The Battalion Viewpoint October 5,19811 Slouch By Jim Earle - i' > ‘It will handle any mathematical problem in seconds; but confidentially, I would recommend that you get one that works on batteries! ,, Sour notes in schools’ music education classes By PATRICIA McCORMACK United Press International ► ah Music is supposed to: — Sooth the savage beast, be both a universal language and a language made in heaven. But in this era of budget retrenchments in the nation’s schools and even in Washington where the National Endow ments for the Arts and Humanities are fac ing reductions, a central question about music and the schools these days is this: “What is the state of the teaching of music?” K - The question was among those tackled by musicians and educators during a four- i day conference on the future of the per forming arts in America, a meeting spon sored by Yale University School of Music and the American Assembly Inc. of New York. The answer, coming from many among the 53 conferees, leaders in education and ^ performing arts, was a collection of sour * notes. Murry Sidlin, a conferee and music f'" director-conductor of orchestras on the v east and west coast, said every year for : quite a while now the number of music teachers in the nation’s public schools has ri— gone down by 3,500. Teachers who die or retire are not re placed. Teachers are let go as schools trim in response to budget cuts. “At best the teaching of music is a hapha zard affair,” said Sidlin, whose orchestras are the New Haven Symphony in New Haven, Conn., and the Long Beach, Calif, Symphony. He also teaches at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado and lectures nationwide on music education and prog rams for the gifted. Sidlin said, as is the case with the per forming arts these days, schools also are taking their cue from the federal govern ment. “When music support as a part of the National Endowment for the Arts is in a state of increasing danger, corporations, private donors, foundations feel this and the reflection is also made to various school systems,” he said. The $158 million sought by the National Endowment for the Arts is subject to cuts of from 25 to 50 percent, depending on how Congress votes on the Reagan administra tion recommendation of cuts. “Music and the other arts sit on death row waiting to have their sentences com muted,” Sidlin said. “Because the commutation doesn’t come along we lose from the public school sys tems 3,500 positions every year— this was happening even before Proposition 13.” Proposition 13 was the California law that held property taxes for school at a level much below the high ones that prevailed for years. As a result schools had to operate on much less money. The idea, “proposition 13 fever,” spread to many other states. The big soft pedal on music programs is even much more intense these days, as Sid lin sees it. Why? “Because there is no signal from Washington that the arts are integral to people’s lives,” he said. During the administrations of presi dents Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson and Kennedy we had at least a signal that the arts are a major force as vital to our senses as blood is to our veins. Under the present administration the blood has turned to water. “Since schools are a reflection of the total values of society, the music teaching pic ture in the public school system is becom ing more and more disasterous. ‘We have to turn the whole situation around and realize a civilization, a culture, a government and its people will be rep resented by its art and we must develop in people, especially children, an understand ing of the meaning of uniqueness and indi viduality through discovery of their own perceptions and imagination, fantasy and wonder. “This is only achieveable when children have a direct opportunity to be touched by art. “And that introduction must take place in the schools — the very place where it is being eliminated.” Sidlin predicted that without music and the other arts “we are destined to become lesser human beings as a society.” in its report at the end of the conference in New Haven, Conn., the assembled lead ers from the performing arts world made these points about arts education: — “The arts (theater, dance, music) should be taught in the classroom as a fun damental part of basic education beginning at the elementary level. They are another language with which to interpret ourselves to ourselves and to other cultures.” — “Schools should strive to achieve literacy of perception rather than mere arts apreciation. To understand the commit ment involved as well as the creative process, the young must experience per formance by actual participation and by observing professional artists.” More suggestions to shorten the presidential campaigns By CLAY F. RICHARDS United Press International WASHINGTON — Among the proposals in the latest study to overhaul the way America elects its presidents is one that consolidates the primaries into a four- month period and allows only one primary day each month. States would pick which of the four prim ary days they wanted. Then after each round, there would be a month for candi dates to campaign for the next series, and for the voters to contemplate the results of the previous round and take a hard look at the candidates as they prepared to vote in the next round. season ends in California in June. In addition, the panel recommends few er primaries than the 37 held in 1980. Not only would the primary season be shorter, less tiring and less boring, but ear ly small states like Iowa and New Hamp shire — their primarie is boosted by at times outrageous media hype — would no longer play the role of kingmaker. The proposal by the Duke University forum — a bipartisan panel of 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans including former pres idential candidates, campaign managers and national party chairmen — is an alter native to the present system where the Iowa caucuses begin in January and the The Duke panel argues that nominations would not be wrapped up early as Ronald Reagan did in 1980, or by candidates like Jimmy Carter, who was able to spend a full year in the small states, overwhelming Democratic opponents despite the fact he was virtually unknown and untested. But there is no guarantee that under the Duke plan the best candidates would al ways win. If, say New York, Texas and Oregon all held their primaries on the Tuesday in the first month and one candidate won all three, he would be the clear front runner for carrying three such diverse stat«| It woidd make competition diffici candidate whose strategy had bypass the first round to concentrat later series. The Duke panel is one of several^ ing the elections process. Both the Rep can and Democratic parties have app commissions to make similar studies! M ore than anything else, whatthelj study shows is that while there aref problems with tin* current system,I no perfect alternative, or at least] been found yet. And the constantly changing role things like television, jet air travelardi puters play in campaigns will force! changes in the system. In the past good systems havepn bad candidates and bad systems M duc( >1 >od candidates \nd MtlM.':j making any radical changes, thepoV and parties will go on tinkering here! tinkering there. r 00UM9£ VTWTH C'O y* -wvt mm >1" mivc -rwrxr The cry of the wild tofu on Capitol Hil By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON — Part of the budgetary flap over the school lunch program involved the issuance and withdrawal of federal reg ulations that, for nutritional purposes, clas sified tofu as a meat dish. Some of the arugments on both sides were, I suspect, rooted in ignorance. There must be millions of Americans who have never tasted tofu and thus are unable to discuss its lunch program role intelligently, much less know what type of wine to serve with it. I, I confess, am among them. When the controversy first arose, I re solved to remedy my deficiency. So I asked my wife if we might have tofu for dinner one evening. “It’s OK with me,” she said. “If you can catch one. I’ll try to cook it. ” I called up a gamekeeper, a rustic chap named Mellors, and asked if there were an open season on tofu. “It’s always open season on tofu,” he replied. “What’s the bag limit?” “As many as you can carry. Just make it light on yourself. ” I asked Mellors whether we might be able to snare a tofu or two by setting out a few traps. Mellors said he was entertaining a lady in his cottage that afternoon and wouldn’t have time to fool around with trapping. However, he promised to give the matter his fullest attention at the earliest possible moment. Meanwhile, I busied myself in research. Actually, I discovered, there aren’t a great many tofu recipes in the cookbooks one is likely to have in one’s kitchen. I found one recipe for braised tofu and another for smoked tofu with lemon sauce, and that was about it. After talking it over, my wife and I de cided to wing it with roasted tofu smothered with lamb chops. When I heard from Mellors a few days later, he told me he had spent several hours stalking the elusive tofu to no avail. The expensive hound he had borrowed to assist in the tracking lost the scent just oveij first ridge and was of no help at all, Mellors concluded that the chantti capturing a tofu in its natural state wasj tually nil. He suggested I go to a meatli er and buy a frozen one. j^ tor ] “Be sure to get one that already hasIw) to skinned,” he advised. “They’re clean. ” I have yet to find a provender thatsiop 11 tofu, skinned or unskinned. 0Wln i “They’re had to find this time off j^j n one locker plant manager told me However, he said he understoodi ify could order tofu under glass at some( more exotic restaurants. Until I get an opportunity to sample! ;son ^ in some form, my policy on the schoollm s , stu issue is this: Don’t knock it if you have »grat tried it. Warped By Scott McCultar The Battalion USPS 045 360 MEMBER Texas Press Association Editor Angelique Copeland Managing Editor Marcy Boyce City Editor Jane G. Brust Asst. City Editor Kathy O’Connell Photo Editor Greg Gammon Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff Asst. Focus Editor Debbie Nelson News Editors Jennifer Afflerbach Bernie Fette, Belinda McCoy Diana Sultenfuss StaffWriters Frank L. Christlieb Randy Clements, Gaye Denley, Terry Duran Nancy Floeck, Phyllis Henderson Colette Hutchings, Denise Richter, Rick Stolle Nancy Weatherley Cartoonist Scott McCullar Graphic Artist Richard DeLeon Jr. Photographers Brian Tate Becky Swanson, Dave Einsel The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper students in reporting, editing and photography clas within the Department of Communications. Questions or comments concerning any editorial should be directed to the editor. LETTERS POLICY Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words length, and are subject to being cut if they are longer. Tk editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style W length, but will make every effort to maintain the author intent. Each letter must also be signed, show the addres* and phone number of the writer. 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